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An altercation between marginalized people could have cost a man his life on June 12, 2023 in the Grand-Places. The trial opened on Wednesday.
In the summer, the Grand-Places welcome a diverse population of drug addicts and idle people. © Charles Ellena/photo prétexte
Published on 09/18/2024
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
For once, the two men who occupied the benches of the Sarine Criminal Court on Wednesday, that of the accused and that of the plaintiffs, are currently housed in the same prison. The first is accused of having tried to kill the second using a broken bottle during an altercation that occurred on the afternoon of June 12, 2023 at the Grand-Places, in Fribourg. The author of the blows, a 34-year-old Somali with schizophrenic disorders, claims to have defended himself against his 43-year-old Palestinian rival, currently imprisoned for offenses that have nothing to do with this episode that nearly cost him his life.
Wearing dark glasses to hide a gouged eye, and sporting impressive scars on the left side of his neck, where the Somali struck him several times, causing open wounds, one of which was six centimetres deep, the complainant narrowly escaped death. Only his rapid treatment by emergency services prevented a fatal outcome. Quiet, the man says he has suffered both physical and psychological after-effects from this traumatic episode.
The perpetrator of the blows “gave free rein to his most primal instincts. Unable to manage his anger, he became a danger to society,” said prosecutor Julien Aubry. Forced to take into account a psychiatric assessment granting the Somali a significant reduction in responsibility, he requested a sentence of 42 months in prison as well as an institutional therapeutic measure (also called “minor internment”) for attempted murder. Since this charge is synonymous with mandatory expulsion, he asked the court to pronounce it for a period of eight years.
The victim’s lawyer, Manon Genetti, noted the absence of a real motive that could explain this bloody altercation. She quoted a witness who said that “the Arab took a lot of blows and did not defend himself.”
The events of June 12, 2023, took place in a particular context: that of the Grand-Places, which attract, in the summer, a diverse population of drug addicts and idle people. Lawyer for the perpetrator of the shard blows, Philippe Maridor drew the judges’ attention to video surveillance images showing the victim adopting aggressive behavior. The man is known to be unbearable and quarrelsome when he has been drinking, which was the case that day, the defender stressed. His client would have acted in self-defense and would not have intended to attempt on his rival’s life.
The court will give its decision later.
